So here’s the background on this one: This is a real headline that I wrote for Cargill Protein years ago. I sold it through and it ran in an in-flight magazine. But I’ve reimagined it here for my portfolio. I gave the headline treatment some extra visual punch. And I changed up the CTA for a bit more contextual logic.
This is the kind of human-centered project I love sinking my teeth into. Reverie is a coffee shop in my hometown. They wanted to broaden their customer base beyond retail and into B2B. My team’s job: Make the business case that better coffee leads to better productivity. And also acknowledge that stressed-out workers need a damn coffee break once in a while.
This one’s all spec. When the pandemic first broke out, I wanted to remind people of the simple steps to stay safe. So I wrote up some lines and proposed it as a local awareness campaign. But, alas, it never made it beyond the initial stages. So I’ve formatted it here as spec work instead. I focused on headlines that entertained without getting too punny. I customized the body copy and CTAs to flesh out the thought. And I branded the whole kit and caboodle as an Ad Council campaign, lending extra gravitas.
I love to use human insights and cultural tensions as a creative springboard. My client here was the local art museum. They were having an exhibit with some real heavy hitters: Monet. Matisse. Renoir. Degas. Chagall. Cézanne. (Don’t you just love those French names?)
My team could have created a traditional, expected campaign. But we dug deeper. We did our research and uncovered a key insight. Lower attendance was due in part to millennials staying home and streaming tv shows. We needed to get them off the couch and into the gallery. And so, an idea was born: Liken the act of art viewing to binging content. I came up with the big idea, the theme line, and these playful twists on iconic Netflix shows.
This one ALMOST lived, but in the end didn’t make it to production. It was smart and cool though, so I’m still proud of it. I conceived it as a summer grilling promotion for regional grocery stores. The idea was to create a POP grill display in the meat department. It would use motion sensor technology to light up and sizzle when a shopper walked by.
The line itself is short, punchy and plays off the action of the display. But I’m also proud of this piece because I actually prototyped this sucker (with a little help from my friends). I programmed it in Arduino with a PIR motion sensor. I copy/pasted open-source code and manipulated it to pulse from orange to red. And then I bolted it all into a mini Weber Grill to present it to the client with style. Cost and logistics prohibited us from manufacturing it (damn). But the client still got a big kick out of the passion we showed for their business, so it paid off.
I worked on TiVo when I was out in Colorado. My team did some pretty cool stuff to help launch their new 4K UHD streaming box. But most of my work was on the art direction side. So I decided to develop these new pieces for my book to exercise my headline muscles. I focused on the features and benefits of their new player, but with a twist. Instead of making it hardware-centric, I riffed off the content one would be watching.
This campaign was designed to increase lift ticket sales for a Lake Tahoe ski resort. On this one, I had to write to an established brand voice. Luckily, I had some excellent audience personas to write to. So that made it a breeze. It’s always great knowing who the audience is, and what they will or will not respond to. That way, I know how I can push the creativity while still staying on target.
This project was very creatively refreshing. And it was precisely because I WASN’T given free rein to do whatever I liked. There were several restrictions I had to adhere to. And several mandatories I had to incorporate. While some might think that sounds limiting, I find it inspiring. I often hit creative pay dirt by pushing within the boundaries I’m given. That’s creative problem-solving. Incorporating featured deals without being ham-fisted. Writing to an established brand voice while keeping it fresh and natural.
As the great philosopher Garth says: At first it’s constrictive. But after a while, it becomes a part of you!
Executions include social posts, outdoor, radio, custom bus shelters, digital tutorials and website copy.